Newcastle eyeing Giorgio Scalvini and Jacobo Ramon - The Athletic

Newcastle United today confirmed that Fabian Schar has signed a one-year contract extension with the club.

Eddie Howe was delighted that Schar was given another year at the club, but that doesn't mean Newcastle won't be looking to add to their defensive roster over the summer.

Newcastle is particularly short on full-backs, but there's also a need for more options at centre-back too.

The Magpies were linked with Atalanta's Giorgio Scalvini last year, and that link is still around, according to The Athletic, who add that Como's Jacobo Ramon is also a target.

Newcastle are looking to Italy for defensive options

Scalvini played 24 times in Serie A last season, helping Atalanta to a seventh-place finish. The 22-year-old has eight Italy caps and has previously spoken about being 'flattered' by the interest from Newcastle.

Jacobo Ramon is a new name in the mix for Newcastle. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who came through the academy at Real Madrid, was a big part of Como's fantastic season, finishing fourth in Serie A.

The Athletic hasn't given any indication of what Newcastle could expect to pay for either of these options were they to pursue them, but Scalvini was expected to cost £50 million last year, so he's not likely to come cheap.

Both players could be out of Newcastle's price range

While the valuations on Transfermarkt aren't the best metric to go off, they have Scalvini rated at €38m (£32.8m) and Ramon at €30m (£25.9m), so we'd expect that Ramon could be the cheaper option, although there won't be much in it.

If Newcastle are to add to their centre-back options, it'll likely be later in the window when they've got their priority positions sorted: Goalkeeper, full-back, winger and midfielder.

That will mean that the remaining budget will heavily dictate where Newcastle is able to look, and we'd expect that the likes of Scalvini and Ramon could be priced out of our range for this summer.